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Machine guns
The first self powered (not needing external power source like minigun) was invented in 1885. Heavier descendants, the first heavy machine guns, where first used in World War I, where they changed the face of warfare. Their purpose is mainly to provide suppresive fire, meaning letting bullets rain over the enemy, making him stuck behind his cover. Machine guns are divided into categories after caliber. Light and medium machine guns can be used by a single soldier, but heavy machine guns are always mounted, either stationary or on vehicles. Light machine guns Light machine guns are machine guns chambered in intermediate assault rifle calibers that are designed to be employed by a single soldier as a handheld weapon. These weapons are sometimes called the Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW. A light machine gun may be a variant of an existing rifle design (with modifications -- such as a larger capacity magazine, a heavier barrel, and a bipod for stability -- to make the weapon more suitable for sustained automatic fire) or a unique design specifically for the purpose. Common Light Machine Guns * RPK : An Russian light machine gun, chambered with the 7.62x39mm cartridge. It was made by Kalashnikov for Soviet troops. It is almost identical to the AK-47 exept being heavier and with longer barrel. It was modified into the RPK-74 (alongside the AK-74) and then chambered for the lighter 5.45x39mm cartridge, and later modifed into the RPK-74M, wich uses polyesters and plastic parts instead of wood. It also exist in an version chambered in the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge. If you for some reason want to carry an LMG the RPK and its many variants are exellent candidates. Although it can't hold as much ammo in its box magazine as belt-fed MGs can, it is much lighter. It can be found in the former Soviet Union and some Asian and African countries. * FN Minimi : An Belgium made, belt fed LMG, proabably most famous as the M249, the version used by the U.S army. It uses the 5.56x45mm NATO round. It has many variants, notable are the before-mentioned M249 and a more compact and lighter paratrooper version. They can be easily found in abandomed military bases of many countries, like the U.S, U.K, Belgium, Norway, Australia, Malasia and more. Medium machine guns Medium machine guns (also known as general-purpose machine guns) occupy the gray area between light machine guns and heavy machine guns, they are chambered in full-size rifle calibers, are man-portable, are usually belt-feld, and are designed to be fired from a stationary position mounted on a bipod or tripod, although it is possible for one man to carry a medium machine gun, though it is not advisable. Common Medium Machine Guns *Russian PK *FN MAG (also known as the M240) *American M60 Heavy machine guns Heavy machine guns use large, somtimes 50 caliber, ammunition. Also they are built heavier and are mounted on tripods. They are also often mounted on vehicles. Common Heavy Machine Guns *American M2 Browning *Russian DShKM Pros and Cons All machine guns, even those considered "light" machine guns, are heavy. For example is a loaded M249 10 kilos (22 Ib), so when you are traveling those are not the most comfortable. Also they do very few have selective fire, wich can be a problem when trying to save ammunition. On the other hand, if having access to enough ammunition, they can be very valuable as mounted weapon to defend bases. One big problem would still be accesibility as the only place where machine guns can be found are abandomed military bases.